Hopes founded on bargain land sale for Yuni

A small farming town in Japan is selling plots of land for $1.50 per square metre in a bid to boost its dwindling population.

Yuni, a town of 5900 people in the middle of the northern island of Hokkaido, is hoping to encourage out-of-towners with the bargain offering.

The offer price of 120 yen is just two percent of the local going price of 6000 yen, and a tiny fraction of the 21.5 million yen ($272,000) charged for a square metre of earth in Tokyo's upmarket Ginza district.

Buyers must commit to building a house on the land they buy and living in it within three years.

About 200 people, mainly from tightly-packed Tokyo and its vicinity, have already enquired about the deal in the two weeks since it was made public, a town official said on Tuesday.

Only Japanese nationals or foreigners with permanent residency in Japan are eligible to apply.

"We may need to have a lottery after the August 31 deadline," an official said.

"We have rolling hills overlooking rice paddies and the country view is one of our selling points."

The official said the price had been set to coincide with the 120th anniversary of the founding of the town.

Rent and land prices in Japan's crowded cities remain among the highest in the world, despite years of economic stagnation.

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